This event is offered to students entirely free of charge, but we are seeking a sponsor. If you or your organization would like to provide this opportunity please contact us!
JM artists travel to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for jazz legend Herbie Hancock on his 2024 international tour. This event is part of our 2024-25 Pinnacle of the Arts series providing an opportunity for JM students to experience world-class arts.
With an illustrious career spanning five decades and 14 Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year for “River: The Joni Letters,” Hancock continues to amaze audiences across the globe. The Chicago native hit the stage with the Donald Byrd group and Miles Davis Quintet before recording his first solo album, “Takin’ Off,” in 1962 and later exploring music of all kinds — including jazz fusion, R&B, funk, electro and African styles. He currently is a professor at UCLA, where he teaches music, serves as chairman of the Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz and is now in the studio at work on a new album.
Along the way, Hancock recorded more than 40 studio albums, was the subject of six concert films, wrote two books and appeared almost a dozen times on television and film. His score for “Round Midnight” received the 1986 Academy Award for Best Original Score and his countless other accolades include everything from MTV Awards for individual works to prestigious career honors, including Kennedy Center Honors, election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the 2018 Benjamin Franklin Medal from the Royal Society of Arts, awarded annually to one citizen of the United Kingdom or United States.
Our new “Pinnacle of the Arts” series provides an opportunity for JM students to experience world-class arts regardless of their family’s financial circumstances. We’re also working to arrange some post-performance opportunities to meet the artists and learn more about what students just experienced.
About 30 students attend each event, which includes excellent seating locations, travel and sometimes a meal. This Herbie Hancock concert is offered to students free of charge, though we are still seeking a sponsor. (Please contact us if you or your company would like to provide this opportunity for students!) The maximum price for any event in this series is $30 — with the option for students to raise the entire cost of their trip through our annual JMArts Raffle for the Arts or to receive financial assistance through JMArts scholarships designated for this series.
“Pinnacle of the Arts” events this season include the national Broadway tour of “Kimberly Akimbo,” Carolina Ballet’s renowned production of “The Nutcracker,” the North Carolina Symphony performing Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, and this international tour stop by contemporary music legend Herbie Hancock. We also will be offering a daylong, behind-the-scenes exploration of the North Carolina Museum of Art, possibly with more events to come.
👉 If you, your business or your nonprofit would like to sponsor an event, please contact us! This is a remarkable opportunity to shape the lives of young artists.
📸 Danny Clinch